Kingdom Hearts: Maleficent's Apprentice
by AthenoxSaber
Summary: With no memories of his past and no understanding of where he is, our hero, Athenox awakes in total darkness with only a voice to guide him.


Heartdancer Chronicles: Prologue

*Effectively "Day" zero, in wherever Maleficent is operating at*

"Huh…Where am I?" My mind struggles as if it were trapped in a thick fog. Before I can finish my thought, my mind is overwhelmed by the sound of conversation. I can't make out any full parts of what they are saying, just a few stringed together words here and there.

"Is it really…?"

"Can it really be…?"

"True darkness…?"

Something about the words they are saying stirs within my mind as I try to open my eyes.

"Oh no, he is waking up!"

"It's not time yet!"

I hear footsteps, and then blackout.

*unknown amount of time later, consider it a "Day" later in our protagonist's heart. Day one*

"Are you ready, my brave hero?"

"Ah!" I shout startled from her voice.

"Now, now, there is no need to be afraid."

"Who are you?" I ask unsure of anything.

"My name is not relevant right now, besides we are here because of you."

"Me, but who am I?"

"You really can't remember anything can you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's right."

"Hmm…perhaps I can help you?"

"You can?" Might as well go along with it, because there isn't much else to do otherwise.

"Only if you agree to follow my instructions"

"I will."

"Well then it really is simple, all you have to do is open your eyes."

My eyes weren't already open? I had assumed because I was awake and responsive that they were. "Ok." There is an intense pressure as I open my eyes. I nearly blackout in pain from effort, but I manage. The floor is the brightest thing in the room, and the first thing I can fixate on… it's too bright. It feels like it's burning me from the inside out.

"Focus on finding your center of balance, or you will fade from existence!"

Faster than I can dwell on the words, I dash across the floor and reach my hands out like I am grabbing something, but what? I stand there motionless when without warning two dark beams of light fade in and out leaving behind two dark purple swords. "How did I do that?" I guess I won't have time to figure that out because immediately thirty shadowy creatures pool up from the floor. Hold on, I barely had time to see them, so how did I count them that fast?

"It seems as if you are being tested of your worth."

"What do you mean?" I ask unable to say anything else, as the blades jerk forward with a will of their own. Wanting me to fight. I give in to them charging into the creatures, wildly striking and slashing with my swords until our intent to fight and kill are merged as one. The strikes become more instinctive and refined in succession. However this stirs up more shadows, causing hundreds to overpower and engulf me.

"That's enough for today, we will continue your training when you decide to reawaken."

I blackout again, in response to the words and the shadows.

*another "Day" later in the protagonist's heart, Day 2*

I wake up again, and my eyes open easier than before. I once again see the center of the room on the brightly light floor.

"Ah I see that you are ready to resume your training?"

"Yes." I respond even though I have no clue what is really going on, or who I am.

"Then ready your swords for battle, it seems as if your test is not over yet."

Right, more shadows appear from the floor. I count around sixty this time. How am I counting them this fast? Not relevant, right now I have to fight. While charging straight into the shadows, I summon my blades and start swinging at them. I kill about 5 of them before I remember yesterday. Killing them like this only brings out a lot more of them, I back step to the corner. Surely there has to be a someway to defeat them. Maybe something is wrong with my weapons, but what? Are they not good enough? I squeeze the handles as hard as I can and focus on the swords with every ounce of my being. The weapons glow and begin to shift into two key shaped blades of roughly the same size as before. As soon as they changed, a voice I can't recognize whispers two words to me. "Save her." What does that mean?

"Hey boy, did you forget what you are doing?"

She is right, because as soon as she said that I find myself barely managing to block a group of seven that try to charge at me. I successfully deflect them back into the crowd and continue my attacks until they are all destroyed and I am left exhausted and out of breath.

"Good job. You are done for the day, but you are far from ready…oh no I shouldn't have said that."

"Ready for what? What do you really want with me? I doubt you are doing this just to help me."

"That's enough, you need your rest."

Before I can respond, her words compel me and I blackout.

*blacked out dream 1*

What does she intend to do with me? Who is this "her" that I am supposed to save? Certainly not her who just yelled at me and has been telling me what to do. She doesn't sound like she needs saving. Ugh, every time I wake and blackout I find myself with a never ending amount of questions but no answers. I still don't know who I am. My only hope is that I start getting some answers tomorrow.

*Day 3, protagonist's heart*

"Wake up! We must continue your training at once!"

"Okay, wait I want answers. What do you want with me?"

"Fine, I suppose I was going to have to tell you anyway. Finish your training for today and I will tell you of your true purpose."

"Understood." Her voice sounds different. It sounds more panicked and rushed than before like whatever I am doing has to work, but what is that exactly? I guess I will have to find out.

"If you recall over the past two days in your battles, your attacks were incredibly skilled. However, you took severe damage and almost faded from existence. We need to find a way to reduce the damage you take. Here try this, it is a black cloak. It will conceal your heart, keep you safe, and it is enchanted allowing you to store items within it. Now go on, your next trial has begun."

Safe, but from what? I guess the specifics don't matter. More shadows appear, however these dark creatures are not the same ones I have been fighting. They are larger and their eyes violently glow an orange color. There seem to be just as many as before, but that doesn't matter as I charge at them head on impulsively without a thought. I finally manage to kill one right when another one manages to strike my back. It is the most painful thing I have ever felt, and the shear force sends me flying to the edge of the glass floor. This cloak that she gave me isn't really helping, but I did feel faster which didn't help me when I got slammed across the floor.

"Focus on the cloak, maybe you have to change it like your blades."

True, my blades didn't work as well until I forced them. She might be on to something. I reach out my arms, and focus on the cloak. The cloak starts responding as I am encased in a dark orb, once it fades and my vision returns and I can see that the cloak has definitely been changed. It looks and feels more like armor. While it seems to be making me stronger, I won't know for sure until I try it. With this new found power, I run straight into the shadowy swarm of creatures and start swinging. Undeterred as their strikes are unable to move me at all. I do not stop until they are all destroyed.

"Okay…I need answers…Now please. (Out of breath)"

"Since you indeed must know. You are nobody or at least you were nobody. A sad shell of existence without a heart or purpose in life. Destined to roam meaninglessly until you would have faded from existence."

"How could you just say that to me like it's even true or like it is even possible? I wouldn't be alive without a heart."

"And that very well might have been the case, had you not been found and saved when."

"If I am understanding this right. That means, you gave me a heart?"

"Yes, but only to help you get your true heart back. So you can have a full existence and gain your true power."

"Then, you know where my heart is?"

"No, but we know the person who has it."

"Who?"

"Someone you are not ready to face in your current condition, and you will have a long way to go before you will be ready."

"Okay I believe you, but I will do whatever it takes to get my heart back when the time comes."

"I understand, my brave hero. Which is why I can say that your training is almost complete."

"It is?"

"Yes it is. Now you will urgently need to rest, for I have a feeling that tomorrow's test will be increasingly difficult."

I listen to her words and blackout immediately.

*blacked out dream 2*

Everything I know so far has been one confusing thing after another, but now I know that I at least have one answer. One goal that I can focus on as I sift through the unknown parts of me. That goal is finding my heart and getting it back. But she said that I am not strong enough to face the person who has my heart. So I will have to get stronger. How? How do I get stronger? Where is this coming from? I mean those are my words but I didn't think I said them with such anger. Focus! Yeah I guess forcing my heart, no… this hearts will on my enemies is the most effective option I have for now. Tomorrow, I will face anything that gets in my way.

*Day four, the last time for a while, in the protagonist's heart*

"I am ready"

"I knew you would be. You need to be more adaptable than just physically striking a target, because some fights may not provide you the opportunity to get close enough. So for today I want you to focus on physically projecting your heart's power outward, as if it were an explosive blast."

"Makes sense." Before I can say another word, the platform beneath me starts to shake aggressively. Whatever is causing this, I can feel its power rise up from the darkness around the floor. It starts to take shape at the edge of the platform, and it is massive. A shadowy humanoid figure with spikes, wings, a horned cloak, and glowing red eyes. I ready my keyblades and charge in. As I get close to the creature, dark silvery chains bind my feet and thousands of dark shards start cutting away at me. By the time the chains break he starts charging up an enormous shadowy orb, and then throws it at me. I have no choice but to dodge it. The orb hits the ground and causes a massive beam to shoot straight up from it. Distracted by the sight I failed to notice the chains wrap around my feet again until it is too late, but this time I can feel the dark shards in the air and I start swinging right as the first one gets near and don't stop until they are all gone. I couldn't deflect all of them however, it hurts far less than taking them full force. I try to move but the chains don't give out as fast as before, and I won't have time to dodge the shadow orb. Now I understand what she meant. I haven't been able to get up close this whole time. I have to focus on what is in front of me. I reach my hands out and channel my hearts energy into them until a substantial amount has gathered, then releasing it into a small orb. This orb hits the orb of the creature midair causing it the beam of light to shoot directly in his face. This stuns the monster long enough for me to charge in unopposed and land enough massive hits that shatter him to the point of breaking into pieces of light that form a door in from of me.

"It is time for your true awakening"

*In Maleficent's tower*

I proceed through the large double doors and I am flooded with light. I regain my vision to discover that I am in a different place than before. I fall out of the container that I was kept in. The room itself is dark and damp. There is a women wearing a dark purple robe with black horns for hair standing in front of me.

"Hurry up and let's go! You must be instructed of your journey. Follow me, quickly!"

She urges me to get up and she starts walking out of the room. I follow close behind. We leave the room and head upstairs into what looks like a large room with oversized throne-like chairs circling a large dark round table. Each of the chairs is colored and decorated differently from one another. She walks and takes a seat in the largest of all of the chairs, decorated with charred purple and green thorns curling up around the sides and back of the chair. She motions for me to approach her, so I do.

"As it is time for you to start your journey, I should tell you of its purpose…"

"Why don't you start by telling me your name? You never answered last time I asked."

"Why don't you tell me yours first?"

"My name?" What is my name? I have to remember. Surely, someone can't just not have a name. I do not think it's possible to truly live without one, so why can't I remember mine?

"See what I mean? Names are irrelevant to lost creatures of the dark like you, but if you have a dire need to know. I am the dark sorceress Maleficent."

"Maleficent?" It sounds like such a dark name to match such a dark presence.

"Now you have to remember your name or else it wouldn't be fair, would it?"

I hesitate to answer as my mind desperately tries to sift and sort through the confused pieces for my name… it is so close. It has to be!

"Athenox…my name is Athenox!" I say with confidence as if I had been saying it all my life.

"Athenox? Such a heroic name for such potential. Now do you wish to know of your journey to regain your heart, or would you like to sit and make more meaningless small talk?"

"Alright I get. Please tell me where I am supposed to go?"

"If you are get your heart back, you will have to obtain an unrestricted amount of power and a vessel to use it from. In order to create and power this vessel, you will have to travel to other worlds and…"

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Not really, I just thought that you would have had more questions to ask by now."

"Sure I do, but I know realize that asking will not help me. If I want answers, then I will have to go out and find them for myself. So, what am I supposed to do in these worlds?"

"You are to go to these worlds and gather very special materials to create and power this vessel. The power supply's materials will be easy to find, for they will all bear the same mark, which you should be able to detect as it glows with a relatively small amount of power, and you will need a vast amount of them. For the materials to create the vessel, you will not encounter them as frequently, but you only need 7 of them. You will recognize their marks instantly by the sheer amount of pure corrupted power that they give off. When you are certain that you have encountered a material of the vessel, plant this on the ground in front of you."

She hands me a blade that looks as the ones that I already have except the guard is gold with a silver blade and there is no chain on it, not to mention it is much lighter.

"And if you ever find yourself outmatched, you can call upon allied creatures of the dark to help you. Here."

She snaps her fingers and shadows appear, one holds a sword and shield, while the other has a staff. They both have a purplish shade and glowing green eyes, the same color as Maleficent's

"They are of my personal elite guard, so I expect you to return them to me when you are done."

"I will"

"Now then it is time you get going. I sent a scout through the dark rift between worlds, and he will send you his findings and tell you what to look out for in each world when you get there."

She points her staff and opens up a dark portal.

"Until we meet again, Athenox. I hope you don't fail."

"Thanks Maleficent, for everything." I walk into the portal ready for whatever might be on the other side.

*Same day even though days are no longer relevant for the story, in the dark rift between worlds*

From the other side of Maleficent's portal all I can see are tiny blips of light moving past me and shadows, a lot of shadows. Far too many for me too even count, and my appearance in the dark rift seems to have provoked them. They turn towards me, but before they can react a massive dark beam emits across the visible distance of the dark rift. After the blast clears the shadows seem to have dissipated leaving a straight path, and a black bird flying along that path. The bird catches sight of me and flies toward me.

*This bird is Maleficent's raven familiar, Diablo. He is her go to scout for finding worlds, princesses, keyblade wielders, etc. And he is capable of communication to those with dark power.*

"There you are! Maleficent told me to expect you but I didn't think it would be so easy to find you amongst the darkness. I detected your presence immediately, and I would say that the heartless did also."

"Can you think of a reason why?"

"Well it might have something to do with your heart, after all it isn't your natural heart. It may have so much power that your cloak alone won't be enough to conceal it from the heartless. Besides heartless are drawn to keyblades, so both of those things combined may be causing the heartless to seek you out more aggressively."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Well I cleared the path to the first world you must travel to already. In the future you could try to focus on lessening your hearts presence, causing the heartless to ignore you. However, that is difficult technique to master and it takes time to learn to use it effectively. So in the mean time I guess you will have to fight your way through the rift in order to get to other worlds."

"There are so many though. How will I be able to fight through them all?"

"You are at quite the disadvantage here. Swinging at them all with your keyblades would take too long and would just stir up more and from what Maleficent told me, your ranged attacks are work in progress in terms of power and efficiency. I have a proposition for you. If you can gather extra materials to help supply me with power, then I will help you get through the rifts to the other worlds. Deal?"

"Sounds like a good deal to me."

"The portal is just up ahead so I suggest you get going. It is a very populated world full of refugees from worlds swallowed by the darkness. It is also a place in which you will find a lot of the materials that you are looking for, as they have been known to just show up here. Not to mention it was my master's former base of operations. I will teach you how to scout out information like that from a world the next time we meet."

I walk forward and enter the portal. Entering a worlds feels like blacking out and entering a dream. My mind goes to one hundred different directions with questions. The first one being, if this was Maleficent's former base of operations then why can't she just come back herself and get the materials from here. Second, since when can entire worlds just be swallowed up by the darkness? Finally, what does he mean that the materials just show up there? It just seems weird.

*Day Five: Hollow Bastion, specifically a back alleyway where our protagonist finds himself waking up.*

Where am I? It feels like I just crash landed. I stand up and get my bearings. It is just an abandoned alleyway behind some buildings. I am supposed to gather materials from this world, so I should probably search around this town looking for them. Diablo said that this place is very populated, but I have a strong feeling that I should probably try to avoid people. It just seems easier that way, considering everything I still don't know. I leave the alleyway and find a street full of people who by the looks of it are just casually going about their day. I quickly detect a shadow somewhere amongst the crowd, but before I can summon my keyblades and find it, a beam of light flashes down on where it was and its presence is gone. What could have caused that? I look around trying to find the source of the light attack, though I can't because everyone is just casually walking through the street. From what I can tell, none of their hearts presences seem strong enough to have that kind of power. I guess I am glad that I can rule all of them out as materials, although I seriously doubt living people would be a crafting material for any power vessel, right? I continuously encounter shadow creatures and watching them get flashed with light along the way. I keep exploring the city streets until I get to the central plaza of the city. It is just as busy as the other parts of the city. Paying closer attention on the people, they seem like happy citizens living normal lives. Scattered groups of children running and playing together, with their parents following close behind. It seems peaceful, but it also seems definitely out of place especially compared to the hardcore training I was enduring a few days ago. Oh no, this time it's a big group of creatures that appear, I count 15. They spawn right in center around the fountain. Even more they all bear the power supply mark, I can feel it. I ready my keyblades and charge in.

When I reach the group I start swinging, however the creatures are stronger than any of the creatures I fought in Maleficent's tower, at least in terms of resisting damage. I blast a shadow ball at one which seems to have been weakened it enough to finish it off when a barrier encases me in with the creatures, and a dozen of those lights from earlier blast the whole area leaving me burned in the intense fire. I lose consciousness without warning. When I wake up I feel drained. And a large crowd has gathered around looking down on me. They all try to talk to me and ask me questions, but my ears are still ringing from the blasts and I can't understand what they are saying. Then, a loud voice booms as another group of people rush over.

"Everybody please back away so we can help him!"

This seems to clear everyone from my immediate position. The group of about six people gather around critically examining me, as I lie helpless on the ground. They look in shock.

"He is a keyblade wielder, bring him back up quickly."

The way this guy talks, he must be some kind of leader. He is wearing black clothing, and is holding a sword over his shoulders. A girl in a pink dress approaches me and builds up a bright light energy in her hands, and then cast it onto me. It seems to be making the burning stop, and it gets rid of the drained feeling I had.

"Get him inside now, before any more heartless show up."

I can't move and pass out, even though I was healed that blast still took a heavy toll on me.

*A few hours later in the sorcerer Merlin's House*

Trying to leap out of the chair as I wake, I find myself tied down by my legs, wrists, and waist.

"I am glad you are okay, because I didn't know if you make it after that blast."

"Thank you." It is really hard to believe that I was almost so close to fading again. I really need to be more careful about situations before I charge in.

"Now can you please tell me why I am tied down?"

"It is a precautionary to make sure you don't make any bad decisions. Now, you took a nearly fatal amount of damage and you are a keyblade wielder, right?"

"My very nearly lifeless corpse heard you shout that to your people when you looked and saw my weapons."

"Just making sure they were, because any of the keyblade wielders that I know would have been unscathed by that blast of light. Due to our defense system being specifically designed to target heartless creatures only, so then explain to me why it nearly killed you?"

So the whole town has some kind of defense system to kill the dark creatures? That explains the light flashes from earlier, and why everyone was just ignoring it.

"Hey he does have a black cloak on. Do you think he could be with the Organization?"

"Not likely. An Organization member would have either ran off and ported away, or flooded the place with husks. This thing however, chose to run in and fight the heartless without any strategy. It just started swinging at them. So the question still remains. Who are you, and what are you after?"

Should I tell them everything I know so far? No! I have a feeling these people will only add unnecessary complications to getting my heart back, but I don't think they will let me go without me telling them anything. I wouldn't want them to get caught in the middle.

"My name is Athenox. I am a keyblade wielder, sent to gather materials from worlds."

"Athenox, huh? What materials might you be gathering with your keyblades?"

"My master didn't specify, but she said I would be able to know when I found them." Uh oh… that was bad, I just said too much. This is going to get complicated fast.

"She…?" the whole room says in unison like it was the most important news I have said all day.

"The only she that I know is involved that would want "materials" gathered with a keyblade is… Maleficent"

How could he have possibly figured it out that fast? Well Diablo did say that this world was her base of operations but it isn't now. Something must have happened to cause that.

"With that said, you're working with her, and she is probably not planning anything good."

"She just wants to help me get my true heart back!" I shout in outrage. How does he just get to talk down on her like she is some kind of villain or something? I can't stand it. I start struggling with the straps, but they won't budge.

"Do you even know at what cost? She will have you slaughter thousands of innocent hearts just so you can get yours back. What makes your heart worth more than all of the others you will break getting it back?"

"I have had enough of this." I angrily focus on the straps and they finally give out. I stand up. What does he mean innocent hearts? Maleficent wouldn't have me kill people would she?

"I can't just let you leave."

He draws his sword on me. I am honestly glad he said that because I want to show him he is wrong. I summon my keyblades, then everyone in the room seems to follow his lead.

"Stand down this is my fight and I don't want you guys to have to get in the middle of it."

Wow, he really hates Maleficent that much? So much that he would fight me as his own personal mission? If I really am searching for hearts, his doesn't have the mark on it. In fact no one else in the room does either. So I have no reason to finish him off, I just have to teach him a valuable lesson. He is in a two-handed sword stance, so I charge in knowing how he will respond. He blocks my blades with his sword and we have become locked in a pushing match. This is where he has the upper hand, all I can do is anticipate this and use his leverage to propel myself back onto the wall. Wait though, I have never fought against a real person before. So how is my mind overflowing with this knowledge? I don't care. I just have to go for it, because it seems to have kept me standing this far. I do have the upper hand in other areas aside from raw strength. I am definitely faster and I can attack in more directions with a second weapon. I leap off of the wall and start running in his direction again, but this time I strafe sideways at the last second to avoid getting blocked again. He slams his sword down before he could realize what I did. He isn't going to be able to block this time. I use this opening to unleash a flurry of hits on him which is definitely noticeable, however it is not enough to knock him down. I swung too many times, giving him the opportunity to create a deadly back swing that sends me sliding back a great distance. That was reckless, and I can't take the risk of doing that again. I perform a third charge into him. I know that he will be fully aware of a direct strike, or a flank from the side. So I pretend to be setting up for either of those. He raises his sword as if trying to be ready for any one direction I plan to attack him in. I extend one of my blades out as he slams it out of my hand partially disarming me. I extend the other blades out to counter as his upswing knocks it out of my hand. He is open and has no way to counter anything else, because another successive downswing would be too demanding. I charge up a shadow ball and punch him center of mass in the chest with it, bringing him to his knees.

"You are incredibly skilled, how?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't have a clue, but I will make a deal with you since I wiped the floor with you. If there is any damage to your defense systems that my presence in this city caused I will do whatever I need to in order to fix them."

"Well you overloaded the power generators, when you got blasted. Not to mention the targeting system got scrambled." Says a man sitting at a computer terminal in the corner.

"Is there anything that will fix them?"

"Yes, but I am going to need parts in order to get them back up and running again."

"Not to mention that with the defenses down, the citizens will be in great danger if the heartless show up. As you should have figured out by now the heartless are drawn to hearts, and they are drawn to your keyblades"

Diablo told me that, so my appearance in this city caused them to show up like that, because of my heart.

"If you can tell me where to find the repair pieces at, I'll be sure to clear the area of any heartless threats." I kind of have to, since I was the one who destroyed the defenses after all. Besides, a Vessel mark hasn't shown up yet. So it's not like I will be able to leave this world until then.

"Sounds like a good deal, but do you know where you are going in this city? Here this might help."

He throws me a rectangular object with a glass screen on the front of it.

"It's a digital map of the city, which should help you get around fairly well. It also has the parts list on it."

"Cool, this should help me find where I am going. Oh yeah, and what are all of your names? It might help me find who to look for when I am done."

From around the room they start to introduce themselves to me. Most notably, the one that I fought earlier is named Leon, the one who healed me is Aerith, and the one at the computer terminal, is Cid. I tell them all good bye for now, and head out of the door.

I walk away from the building and check the list on the map. It seems to be a lot of different types of pieces from all across the city, even a few that are outside of the city. I should probably get the ones closer to me before I get the pieces outside of the city. The closest one isn't too far away, so I start off in that direction. I should also be on the lookout for heartless since the cities defense are unable to take care of them. I summon my keyblades to my side so I can be ready for them. I reached the location of the first piece on the list unopposed. I check the map and proceed to the second piece, but this time it seems as if the heartless have pinpointed my location. Now they are swarming everywhere. I can't let them loose in the city like that so I destroy them as fast as they appear. Swinging and slashing my way through. I reach the second piece. The third piece's location reads to be an ice cream shop a few streets up. The piece is a spare coolant generator, whatever that is. I must say that these are some very odd pieces for a defense system, but hey I'm not the expert on defense systems. So it must be a reasonable request. I clear a mob of heartless and proceed through the streets. Arriving at the shop I find it unattended. This is good sense I didn't want to have to explain my situation to more people than I have to. So I slide over the counter to find a spare metal box labeled coolant generator, along with large buckets and boxes of ice cream of varying colors. I don't know why but I can't help myself to say no. With the generator in hand, I pull out a swirled yellow and red flavor on a stick and unwrap the packaging that advertises their new flavors and has I crown on it exclaiming that I am a winner. Just a marketing brand probably. I take a bite out of it as I slide back over the counter, only to find myself dropkicking a strangely overdressed duck looking creature. And I thought heartless were a strange concept.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing stealing from my shop?!" He shouts at me seemingly unaffected by my armored boot to his face. He angrily tries to jump up at me trying to grab both the generator out of my arms, and the ice cream out my mouth.

Ok, so I am technically stealing the ice cream but I do have a valid reason for taking the generator.

"If you would calm down, I can explain…mostly." I have no intention of telling him anything to specific, like who I am or why I am in this city.

"There is no explanation good enough to validate you taking my ice cream, you scoundrel."

"I was sent here by Leon and the others to acquire repair parts for the town's defense system."

"Well if Leon sent you then you can take the generator, but I don't think a half-eaten ice cream bar is going to help the town's defense." He looks at me in suspicion while pointing his cane in my face.

If he read the rest of this list, he might reconsider the statement he just said. I mean it is ridiculous.

"I suppose that can be your free sample, but if I catch you stealing again…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence, the duck man got his point across. Even though I could definitely take him on in combat, it wouldn't really be a valid solution.

"Well thank you and I had better get going to finish… Did you sense that?"

"Sense what? This had better not be another way for you to sneak a second sample."

"No. Get inside your shop and lock the door." Loud howling roars can be heard, and they are closing in fast. Without question the duck is inside the shop and all the doors and windows are locked. The air freezes to a chill as the heartless solidifies in front of me. It is a large icy blue wolf with white claws and fangs, along with a substantial group of less powerful heartless. They all seem to have the power supply marks on them that Maleficent told me about. The bigger one's is much more intense with power than the rest. I pull my keyblades out, even though they alone are not going to be enough. I should focus on taking down the smaller ones first, so the massive wolf can have my full attention when I fight him. I run in to the group, and the wolf howls with a loud breath. The floor is frozen slick beneath me and I slide into the nearest wall. I have a feeling that they will keep evading me if I try charging in to them again. I think this slick ice might be something I can use against them, but I have to act quick because the group is circling me in closer and closer. I push forward and use that momentum to build power in my blades as I slice through a group of them, and sever the hearts they had from their shadowy figures. There is still more, and the ice is not helpful when you are trying to fight close quarters so I have to figure out a way to get rid of it. I have taken about half of the group down when the wolf heartless shoots and ice projectile out of its mouth straight at me. It leaves me frozen in place and vulnerable to an unrelenting series of slashes from the lesser heartless. This isn't good, and if they keep up I think I will fade from existence. I have to think of a way out of it, but it is so hard to think when my mind is frozen. It is so cold that it burns. I need something to melt this ice with and fast, but what? I won't lose. No, I can't lose. I clench my fist and feel heat rise off of them. The ice around me starts to loosen up and I spin my blades around shattering the ice. I then stomp the ground releasing a wave of fire, melting the ice on the ground and the group of heartless surrounding me. Where did this ability come from? Have I ever used it before? No, not that I can remember. The ice wolf's claws glow blue as he runs at me for a final attack. I lunge straight at him and swing through his frosted hide as he disintegrates and his heart releases from him. I knock on the door of the ice cream shop signifying that it is safe to come out. He opens the window and throws a whole box of ice cream bars at me.

"Thank you very much for saving my shop, give these to your friends so they can try." He then slams the window back down in fear. I store the generator and the box of ice cream in my cloak, and refer to the map again for another piece.

It is a metal container full of gears, in an abandoned workshop. Gears sound like a logical component to fixing something. Not the weirdest thing on this list. I of course start walking in that direction, clearing out any groups of heartless I see. I soon find myself at the front doorsteps of the workshop. Inside, a colorful expansive room full of parts and heavy machining equipment. I could probably spend hours in here trying to figure out what everything does, with that said I do need to find the box of gears and try to leave before anyone shows up like last time. I start searching and digging through the pieces trying to find the box. There are so many metal objects scattered around the area that it takes me awhile before I finally find the gearbox. Right on que a crowd of heartless show up. I waste no time in dispatching them. When an oversized metallic scorpion forms from all of the metal pieces in the room. The creature shoots out a constant stream of iron projectiles from its tail, as its pincers try to strike at me as if they were blades. I don't think I will get an option to get close to this thing, without getting torn to shreds in the process. Deflecting the pincers is really tough, because whatever metal that they're made out of is very dense, so any form of striking with my blades is not an option, unless I can weaken the metal causing it to become less dense. If it is less dense, then I can tear through it easier. I manage to dodge its attacks long enough to charge up a shadow orb, and as I block the pincers I toss it over and the orb slams right into the scorpion's tail. I then jump over the pincers and run up its body, and slicing its tail off at the weak spot I created. This cause the creature to be stunned in pain. I then charge a second shadow ball and slam it into the metal skin of the scorpion's top. I raise my keyblades up and slam them down, causing tit to disperse into all of the metal pieces it gathered from as the heart flies out of its broken body.

I decide I need to pick up the pace in finding the pieces, so I start running towards a satellite antenna where the next piece, a lightning rod, is located at. The heartless start coming and a more thunderous roar fills the sky, as a bright yellow shaded bird flies past me in the sky sending arcs of lightning to hit the ground around me. The bird then flies above me, circling around spewing lightning balls that fall to ground and explode. The smaller heartless do not seem to be a problem even as there are about double the amounts that have been showing up. The bird however is a larger undertaking. I try to jump up and charge into the bird but I am jolted with large quantity of electricity when I get close, leaving me stunned as I fall back to the ground. I try this process two more times before my legs give out and I fall over. This thing is tough. It seems to be able to sense my attacks in the air and react before I can get close enough to land a strike. It has to have a weakness, some way to throw off its sense and destroy it. I can't move my legs, so I am unaware of how I am going to get close enough to try that. In anger I throw one of my keyblades at it and it seems to stop spewing lightning long enough to zap the keyblade out of the air, then it continues circling the air. That might be the opening I need. I summon the thrown keyblade back in my hand, and throw one off set of the bird. Then, immediately after I throw my second keyblade directly at it. The first one causes him to stop and zap it, while the second one runs straight through his heart causing him to disperse into nothingness.

The lack of feeling in my legs still remains to be an issue. This does give me a good reason to use Maleficent's heartless. Maybe the one with a staff has some kind of healing magic or something. I snap my fingers and the shadow with a staff appears, as does the shadow with the shield and sword.

"Hey so uh… sorry to ask this, but do you think you can help me out? I kind of took massive electric shock damage and my legs won't move." The shadows look at me in confusion.

"You can understand me right?" They look at me, and then at my legs but they don't seem to understand my request. Maleficent said that these were her elite guard, right? I can tell they heard me. I must not have been specific enough. She must have trained them to work off of a specific set of keywords to act on, allowing her to gain their assistance faster in combat. However I am sure that they will learn eventually.

"Heal me!" I say trying to match her commanding tone, making it easier for them to understand me. The shadow raises his staff charging it with energy and then points it at me. Instantly the feeling in my legs returns.

"Thank you!" They graciously bow before me, indicating that she had time to forcibly teach them manners.

I must say they seem pretty pure hearted for heartless, as weird as that sounds. I don't think they have a mean bone in their shadowy bodies.

"Do you two have names?" The two heartless look at each other with the same confused look as before.

"Guess not then? I don't think it is fair to not have a name and still be as respectful as you are. Hmm." I look at the one holding a staff, which seems to be a very particular looking staff. With two shadow serpents spiraling around a black heart with a red "x" on it, and the staff itself is not very long in length.

"I think I will call you Caduceus." He seems to nod his head in agreement.

"And I think I will call you, Aegis" He also shrugs his head in agreement, as if to accept the name just because it is a name. I don't know why but their names just seem to fit with them pretty well, and I haven't even fought beside them yet. I can just tell.

"Well guys Maleficent told me not to rely on you so if you must go I will continue on my mission" They keep a confused look on their faces.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" They approach me, and make ridiculously heroic poses with their weapons. They approach me, and make ridiculously heroic poses with their weapons.

"You mean you want to fight with me?" They aggressively shake their heads in agreement.

"Ok then let's go, but when I say I want you to disappear for a little bit. Do you understand?" More agreeing head nods. It should be fine right, but to avoid having to tell anyone any more I will just make sure that they do not get seen.

I proceed again to the map and then to the next piece, with Caduceus and Aegis behind me. They help me clear a larger path to the next location, which is at an underground water tunnel. The piece is a release valve. We walk into the tunnel to find the place already crawling with heartless, about twenty or so.

"You guys ready?" They ready their weapons for battle.

With the three of us as a team, they manage to clear out pretty easy. When unexpectedly, from a massive whirlpool seems to erupt a large snake creature that shoots an intense beam of water across the tunnel walls, causing a flood of water to rise up, Aegis shields us from the force of the beam.

"I guess it's not over yet" We run in and try to strike the creature head on, but its body just absorbs the strikes as if it is partially made of water. The snake gathers a wave and slams us back into the wall. Caduceus heals Aegis and I. We probably do not want to do that again because I don't know what the cost is to Caduceus for casting too much, nor do I intend to find out. I have to think of a strategy, and fast or the tunnels might overflow into the city. The water solidified when the snake gathered enough force to generate a wave, so maybe if a big enough force can generate a big enough wave. Then we can use that wave to displace the snake's body enough to strike at its heart.

"I have an idea." Caduceus and Aegis turn and look at me.

"It is definitely a longshot, but we are going to have to generate a large enough force to be able to get to his heart." Usual confused looks from the two of them.

"Caduceus, do you think you can use your magic to spin my blades fast enough to cut through the water?" He looks at my blades for a second before nodding his head.

"Ok, and Aegis can you use your shield to push us through the water?" He nods his head.

I grab both of them keeping Aegis in front of me holding his shield, and Caduceus behind me as he starts to spin the key blades churning the water. We act as one and rush forward around the creature, building up speed as we dodge the water beams that are being shot out of its mouth. Each rotation causing us to go faster and build up more energy in the wave that we are creating. We keep going until it seems that we can't build up anymore, then we veer straight into the snake with a massive wave. The snake's liquid body is sent flying back, and only the heart remains at the center of the pool. I jump over Aegis's shield and swing at the heart sending it flying. As the water begins to evaporate, I grab the release valve and we leave the tunnel and begin for our next location.

Along the route I snap my fingers to dismiss them, because a man leaning back against a wall stops me.

"Well if it isn't you three again…!" He stops midsentence and opens his eyes in shock.

"Sorry, I could have sworn you where someone else…" He stops again noticing the keyblades in my hands, and the cloak I am wearing. Thanks Maleficent, the cloak so isn't noticeable and I feel a lot more hidden when I wear it.

"Who are you…and why do you have a keyblade?" He draws his oversized sword in suspicion.

"Come on this is getting really old really fast! First Leon, and now you. How many people want to fight me just because I use a keyblade?" I say as I ready my keyblades for what will be another painful fight.

"Wait, you already met Leon and the others?"

"Yes, and because I wrecked him so badly, I am helping repair the cities defenses."

"Well I was beginning to question why the heartless were out in such force today." He lowers his oversized sword.

"What are you doing?"

"I was passing through and figured I would help out Leon and the others by clearing all of the heartless."

"Well I seem to be attracting all of them wherever I go so if you want help get me to the next place I have to go."

"Sounds like fun lead the way."

"By the way if we are fighting together, than it might be helpful to know your name, you know in case you get hurt and I have to tell the others what happened."

"My name is Cloud, and what is your name, comedian?"

"Athenox"

"Athenox? Weird name. Sounds unnecessarily dark."

"And Cloud doesn't"

"Fair point, now let's go before I change my mind."

Well I guess I can't use Aegis or Caduceus right now, because I don't want to fight someone so opposed to heartless out of a misunderstood complication. Even though my mission is to slaughter heartless, these are good exceptions. The two of us walk to a blacksmith shop down the streets, without any heartless showing up.

"Hey you didn't lie to me about the heartless, just because you were scared did you?"

"Yeah right, they are probably just reorganizing their numbers now that there are two of us. I will go inside and get the repair part, you keep watch." I walk inside and ask the blacksmith for a flame conduit pyre. He hands it to me when no questions asked when I tell him it's for Leon. I put it in my cloak.

"Hey Athenox! They are here, and there is a lot of them."

I bolt out of the door to find the entire street covered in what seems to be about eighty-five lesser heartless, and a larger creature with the appearances of a lion. It roars as a massive flame bellows from its mouth. They immediately detect us and start approaching. We draw our weapons.

"Stay close, focus on clearing out the lesser heartless first, while dodging anything the big one throws at us."

"Makes sense."

The battle begins as the swings and strikes of our swords clear through the heartless swarm. The lion projects a wild breath of fire at us, but Cloud deflects it with his sword. I dash from target to target. He slams down his sword, destroying about twenty of them. He is very powerful. In fact if I had to guess he would make Leon look like an easy fight. His heart and his blade emit a great deal of power. I am relieved that he doesn't have a mark on his heart, because strategy alone wouldn't match his raw strength. We clear out all of the lesser shadows, and only the lion remains. Its claws glow molten as it prepares to pounce. We evade it as it hits the ground hard causing a fiery explosion. The lion stomps his front paws on the ground, igniting the floor underneath. I jump up on the wall of the blacksmith, and Cloud follows. We run along the wall until we are on the wall beside the lion, then Cloud flanks the beast's side while I jump over it landing on a wall across the street. I leap off of the wall and slide under the creature slicing him from under. This causes his body to burst into flames as his heart flies out. The fire on the floor subsides upon his destruction. We both look pretty beat up and burned from the lion creature, but nothing fatal.

"Are there anymore repair pieces?" Cloud asks.

"One more but since it is outside of the city, I think I can handle it"

"Good." He says intently

"Because something might have just come up and I have to go check it out, because I need to make sure it isn't what I think it is." He runs off before he say anything else.

"That is one strange guy." I snap my fingers and my heartless companions reappear.

"Alright guys the last piece is said to be in the castle just outside of the city, it is a dark crystal orb." The two heartless lower their heads in silence.

"What is there something wrong about that castle?" Aegis immediately points to his glowing green eye. Which I must admit is strangely close to Maleficent's eye color.

"Oh right, so this castle was Maleficent's base of operations?" Diablo did say she operated in this world, but why? There isn't any particular reason to be stationed in a specific world, if you can just use the dark rifts to travel between them. However that would be a lot of heartless to have to face when you are just trying to cross between two worlds, especially if you are trying to reach a world that is very far away. So there must be some advantage to this world over all the others, probably some access point that makes this world more centrally located to all of the other worlds. I guess we will just have to go explore the castle to find out.

Leaving the city is pretty straightforward, but trying to navigate the cliffs and plains outside of the city is very tricky. Multiple openings for heartless attack develop, and we find ourselves in an increasing onslaught. There seems to be an increasing amount of them as we approach the old castle. Not to mention the strange platforms and traps that are still activated. After we manage to traverse the floating platforms, we reach the gate. The inside of the castle is very old and in ruin, like something must have happened here to cause this level of destruction. While exploring the inside, we find what appears to be a very large room. The entry hallway has seven broken glass pods and there appears to be a giant heart shaped window, surrounded by bronzed colored framing and machinery. The room itself is circular and seems to be held up by pillars. We find the crystal orb on the floor in a pile of debris next to other broken objects that probably belonged to Maleficent. The most identifiable being an opened bird cage that if I had to guess probably belonged to Diablo.

The three of us ready our weapons as I pick up the orb, because if there were a creepy place that a giant heartless would strike; it would be here. All of the natural lighting of the room blacks out for a second, and when it comes back on a blackish purple dragon is standing in the center of the room. It lets out a ferocious roar that shakes the castle walls, and causes debris to fall from the ceiling. Its presence is too overpowering, far greater than any of the other creatures we fought in this city, possibly even stronger than Cloud's. The dragon's eyes glow intensely as the creature focuses on us. It rears up and takes off straight for us, leaving a trail of dark energy in its wake. In order to avoid a direct hit, I grab my two heartless friends and slide along the floor through the dark trail left by the creature. The trial doesn't seem to do much more that sting a little. The dragon spins around, unaffected by my maneuver. It opens its mouth to release a massive stream of shadowy flame, which doesn't seem to burn much through Aegis's shielding. I decide to run in and strike it directly, which is a trying task because anytime I strike the creature that part of its body dissipates into shadow and then reforms. I am struck midair by a dark bolt of lightning, and then slammed down by the dragon's claws. The claws are made of a weird substance because I am left hurt on the floor with glowing purple gash marks across my chest, and dark black energy oozing out. I must be dying as my body grows cold and motionless. Caduceus tries to heal me while Aegis protects us from the creature, but it does not seem to work. The dragon flaps its wings sending a flurry of ice down, that knocks Caduceus and Aegis into the wall leaving them unconscious. It is the last sight I see before I blackout. How did this happen? How did fall this easily? This can't be how I die? Broken and without a heart, as a failure. I let my companions down, I let Leon and the others down, and most of all I let Maleficent down. No, I will not give up that easily.

"So you seek more power?" A voice says from inside of me.

"Who are you? Are you me?"

"That's not a question you should bother with so close to death. Do you seek more power to fight your enemies, protect those who matter to you? Maybe to protect Maleficent?"

"What are you talking about? Maleficent does not need my help."

"Sure, but wouldn't you like to live through this so you can find out for yourself."

"Yes, you are right then. I do seek more power."

"Then all you have to do is open your heart up to it."

My body floats up on its own and when I regain vision it is pure red. All I can focus on is the dragon. It tried to kill me, even worse it tried to kill my friends. I summon my keyblades, which look slightly different than usual. I don't care, they should be perfect for slaughtering this dragon. I charge at the heartless creature, faster than I have ever charged at anything before. Almost like I teleported to it. It tries to swing its claws at me but it isn't fast enough, because I fire a massive shadowy beam at it before the claws reach me. I teleport behind it and release a full volley of hits on it with my blades, to the point where its body can no longer dissipate to avoid damage. I run it through with my keyblades and push it straight into the ground, shattering it into a black flame. Its heart releases upwards. I fall to the ground as my vision and keyblades return to normal. Caduceus and Aegis wake up unsure about what just happened, but they don't seem to be too worried about it.

"Well we got all of the pieces so let us head back to town and give them to Cid."

While walking back we hardly encounter any more heartless. We make it to the building I started at, which seems to be a lot easier to find now considering its central location. I walk in to find that only Cid is in the building.

"Hey where did everyone else go?"

"Hey Athenox! They all went to go keep the heartless at bay across the city. Say, did you get all of the parts for the defense system?"

"Yeah I did." I proceed to pull them out of my cloak and hand them over to Cid.

"Thanks, with these I can repair the defenses in no time. The only problem is that now I will have to recalibrate the entire system."

"How bad is that?" I ask with an uncertainty.

"Well I myself lack the sophisticated computer terminal skills to remotely calibrate the system from here, and I lack the combat skills to go into the servers and manually calibrate them there. Leon could do it but since he is out leading the patrol, he won't be able to come back until the system is back up and running."

"Where are the servers, if you tell me how I can go in a recalibrate them at the location of the servers?" I volunteer whole heartedly, not quite knowing what I am getting myself into.

"You will have to get inside and find the program guarding the core of the system, and forcefully overwrite it. You will have a much easier time getting inside because of your keyblades. They can unlock many doors within the server."

"What do you mean within the server?" Surely he doesn't mean I am going inside the computer, right?

"Just stand in front of the terminal and point your keyblades at it."

I follow his instructions, even though I am unsure of what will happen. I raise my keyblades at the computer terminal, and a beam of light flashes over me.

*Athenox is now in the grid*

The light fades and I am in a very different looking place, it is a building the same size as the one I was just in. The only difference is that everything is colored darker with bright blue lighting. I walk out onto the gray street. The sky is pitch black. The only lights are coming from buildings, and the streets. I notice a digital glow from my keyblades and armor that makes them look different. I have to find the server and override the program guarding the core. This must be the server, which means I must be in the computer. That is actually kind of cool. Where is the core of this place though? This place is huge, so I have no idea how long it will take me. I should probably find higher ground to get a good layout of this place. I walk to the tallest building nearby, and struggle with how I am going to climb to the top of it. I could walk inside. I don't see any adjacent roofs to try and jump from. I guess I will have to.

"Come on, Caduceus and Aegis, let's go." I say before looking behind me and realizing that they aren't there. They couldn't follow me in? I guess it won't let you in without a heart, even though this one isn't my own. It must only check if you do have a heart. So then there should not be any heartless in the server? I walk into the tower, which seems clear of people to me I make it to the roof. I can see a large grouping of lights, within an enclosed square perimeter. There is also an even larger tower on the other side, with a large light beaming from the top of it. I bet that is the core. Since I do not have any way to just fly over there, I will have to walk through that square area. As I get closer heartless spawn in, but how? I would be able to summon in Aegis and Caduceus if that were the case. Although I don't sense hearts or power marks within them. That would make them computer programs that look like heartless? It is really too confusing to think about, so I will just destroy them instead. I reach the gate of the square, which is guarded by two orange and black geared guards wielding what look like digital polearms. They react to my presence.

"Unidentified user detected. Please state your name and designated function." They point their polearms at me.

"My name?" I do not know what is going on, but I do not what draw create any extra problems with the towns defense systems, nor do I want more things attacking me because of who I am.

"My name is anon." There that should keep my presence in this place hidden.

"Anonymous unidentified user detected. Security protocol activated. Capture and dispose of immediately."

Or maybe not. The two guards panic and stomp the floor, causing electric digital wires to surge up from the floor and tie down my hands and feet. I am shocked and blackout unexpectedly. I can still hear some type of aircraft fly over though. I reawaken with a headache, on the ground like I was dropped out of that aircraft. I start to hear loud cheering. I look around and see the lights gathered. I must me in the dead center of the square. I then realize that I am not on the ground at all. I am on a blue panel of glass very high up in the air. A booming voice then erupts, causing the cheering crowd to hush.

"If you wish to get to the core, then you must first get through our challenger's arena."

"What do you mean?"

"You will have to face off against all of our designated security programs."

"This is crazy."

I am beginning to see why Cid said he did not have the combat skills to manually override the system. If only Leon could have returned, since Cid said that he had the computer skills to remotely recalibrate the defense system. Well it is too late to back out now, even though I am not a fan of being this high up in the air.

"Who do I have to face first?" Suddenly a fighter in a black and orange guard suit appears on an orange platform across from me. I guess that answers my question, but how am I going to get to him. Since I am unsure I will let him try to make the first move. A timer counts down from five, and a buzzer goes off. He starts his attack by taking out two circular discs and throwing one at me. I see it headed towards me and can easily block it, which causes it to bounce off of the glass and return to his hand. He then throws both discs at me, but I am still able to deflect it. The discs return to his hand again. I do not think this is going to go anywhere anytime soon. He then squeezes the handles of the discs, causing them to glow brighter and larger. He then reaches his arms back as he proceeds to throw them at me again. I can feel them approach much faster than before. I barely get a chance to block them, but I manage. However they no longer return to his hand like before. Instead they bounce off of the glass and continue to pick up speed. He then pulls out two more discs, charges them up, and throws them at me. This has gotten ugly fast. I have to start swinging faster and faster just in order to keep up with the discs. I sure hope he doesn't have two more discs or I will be done for. They don't seem to be losing speed when I strike at them, they are just redirecting and picking up more speed. I can't keep up like this forever or my arms will wear out. I try to block them but the all hit my blades at once, causing me to slide closer to the edge of the glass. I bail out and slide under the discs trajectories. Only within seconds do the discs return to their previous scattered paths around me. I need a strategy and I need it fast. What makes these weapons so incredibly fast? Also, why was he able to return them to his hand when I deflected them the first few times? It is because they are his weapons in the same way my keyblades are to me. Which is why he can summon them to return not matter how many times he throws them. That must also mean that the reason he can increase the speed and cause them to have a reflective trajectory, is because he empowered them. Then maybe I can empower my keyblades in the same way? I need to get an opportunity to strike him and get away from the discs long enough to recover my arm strength. I focus on the keyblades and fill them with a dark essence. It is going to be a risk not having both of my keyblades to defect, even for a moment. I don't have a choice though. I throw one of my blades in between the discs, directly at my opponent as I keep dodging the discs with my other blade. I wait until I can sense the keyblade being close enough, then I slide through the dark energy trail left behind by the thrown keyblade. I manage to not get hit by the discs and I grab my blade midair as it lunges toward its target. I knock him back off of the glass and he falls into the square below, but I can't see if he landed or not. The glass lights up and a bridge forms from the platform I was on to this platform to the top of the tower that was behind the grid. I rest long enough to get the feeling back into my arms, and then I proceed across the bridge. Digital heartless swarm the bridge along the way. As I make my way through the heartless a giant digital version of the dragon from Hallow Bastion's castle, sweeps over the bridge. It hovers in the air on the bridges center platform, but its features are all contorted from before. It has a lion's mane, a wolf's head, a scorpion tail, scaled skin, dragon horns, and its claws are each glowing different colors. This place seems to generate digital copies of the heartless that are destroyed, in order to scan them and improve their defense programs. It must have amalgamated from all of the heartless guarding the pieces I found around town. It breathes a pure energy beam from its mouth that eradicates any remaining heartless on the bridge. I can only attempted to block it, as it washes over me. The light burns, stuns, freezes, tears, and knocks me back and hurts as much as the defense system when I first got to the city. It makes sense, considering they are the same as the heartless I fought earlier now powered by the defense system. The strategies I used to defeat them the first time certainly will not work with each of its parts together. I need a plan and I need to figure out a better way to resist all of the negative effects of the pure energy. It then dashes straight for me, all I can do is roll out of its way. Its claws scrape the flat top of the bridge and leaves behind a multi colored trail of energy. This is intense.

"Then open your heart up to it." His words ring inside my mind.

He is right I have been holding back my feelings because I was too busy overthinking the whole fight. I just have to destroy it. No questions asked. I get ready to charge as it flies at me again. I'm not moving in any direction but forward. I charge forward knocking it off balance, and this allows me to finish it off in one strike. I proceed up the bridge to the top of the tower. No heartless seem to show up. The top of the tower is a circular room with a beam of light coming from the center. That must be the core, and Cid said that I have to override the program guarding it. Without a pause a black-cloaked figure digitizes in front of me, also wielding two keyblades. He looks very similar to me except his blades look different. One is black, and the other is white, each with a different design. The data program's presence is very dominant, and I can feel it. I doubt it will be very easy to override him. He hasn't said anything yet, I wonder why?

"I have to say I admire your choice of weaponry."

"Shut up" He responds angrily.

"I have to defeat anything that stands in my way so I can set kingdom hearts free from Xemnas." He says with full determination. What does he mean set the hearts free? Also, who is Xemnas and why do they sound familiar? Before I can question anything else he charges at me with his blades. They are easily blocked, and I slide left beside him causing him to spin.

"Do you have a name to match your anger?"

He charges in again, provoked by this statement. I jump over him and deflect his blades midair as I land behind him. He hesitates.

"My name is… Sora." He says uncertain like he is conflicted by his answer. Does he not know who he is either? I know what that's like.

"Are you sure? You didn't seem too confident in your answer."

"My name… doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is that I can destroy kingdom hearts so things can go back to the way they were." Whatever this kingdom hearts thing he is talking about must have ruined his life to the point of fighting this hard. I almost feel so bad that I forget why I am fighting him, even though I know it is so I can get my heart back. He rushes at me again. I charge my blades with dark energy to try to disarm him, but his blades seem to automatically react by charging with light. Our keyblades clash, sending a massive energy wave across the room blowing our hoods down. I see his face. It looks exactly like mine. We both pause and back away, unsure of what we are seeing.

"Who are you?"

"I guess I have to ask you the same question." He has blonde hair and blue eyes, so we do not look totally alike. It still doesn't make any sense though. I can't think of any reason why this program, used to guard the core targeting systems of a cities defense would have my general appearance.

"I don't suppose you would want to take a minute to explain each other's past experiences to compare them and figure out a solution to this weird occurrence." I can finish him off easy, but I want to know why he looks like me.

"No, I don't. I don't care why someone else looks like me. I just have to focus on freeing all of those hearts from within Kingdom Hearts. You are in my way, so I have to destroy you."

"Fine then, I guess I will just have to return in kind." I really wish he would tell me what he knows, so I can figure out more about what I must have forgotten. He starts to charge in, but I am faster because I reach him first and channel my dark energy into a punch centered right in his chest. He recovers and retaliates with a beam of light from overhead. It burns me probably as much as the punch hurt him. We both pretend to be unaffected by it as the fight continues. He uses his light energy to speed up, but I use my dark energy to match him. He tries to unleash a powerful light strike, but I dash under it. I then channel my darkness into chains that wrap around his keyblades. I pull them out of his hands and throw them over the edge of the platform. He doesn't seem phased by this as he reaches his hands out and channels massive explosions of light all around the platform. I have to do my best just to dodge them and stay alive. Using all of this dark energy from my heart just to keep up is really draining. I can't give up, so I will just have to match him. From the edge of the platform I channel all the dark energy I can muster, and project it in an oversized beam that engulfs him. He falls to the ground and passes out. I try my hardest to avoid losing consciousness from the drain. I approach him, but he wakes up and summons one keyblade to strike me. It is all I can do to match him with one of my keyblades. We both fall to the floor, and we are forced to sit down as we have no energy left.

"We both don't have anything left to fight with, but if you want to keep this up I will have no choice but to match you." He remains silent. He probably wants to keep fighting, but he knows that he can't. I have to take this opportunity to forcefully convince him to let me recalibrate the system. When he finally sits down, I use the keyblade in my hand and charge at him. He can't react fast enough, and I have my keyblade pressed against his chest.

"I have to recalibrate the system."

"Why? Why are you trying to get in my way?" Even when he gets defeated, he won't give up on his mission. It is almost like he is broken. I have to save him from his rage and misery, but how? Cid did say that having a keyblade would allow me to unlock doors and get in to places easier. I run him straight through with the keyblade causing his body to digitize into nothingness, leaving behind a heart. It is a digital copy of a heart. I can tell since it doesn't give off any real presence. I have to unlock it from its anger and hate. I point my keyblade at the heart and focus on saving it from itself. The heart reacts by flashing with light, its presence has changed. It then lowers itself to the ground and encases itself in a shell of light, which breaks leaving behind a new body that looks the same and is wearing a different outfit. He awakes and notices me standing there.

"Thank you for saving me"

"No problem. If you would like to tell me your name now, then I could consider us even." I ask because I still want to know why he still looks so much like me.

"My name is Roxas." He says with more certainty than before. His name rings an image of a girl, along with the same words as before. Save her. The words loudly ring across my mind with more intensity than before.

"Hello?" he waves his hand in front of my face.

"Umm sorry, I am fine." I say as I regain my focus.

"I asked what your name is."

"My name is Athenox."

"Athenox? Sounds cool."

"Can you help me recalibrate the core of the system?"

"You do not need my help to do it. It is the same thing that you did to me, just point your keyblade at the core."

"Makes sense." I point my keyblade at the core in the center of the platform. It also flashes with light, just as Roxas's heart did. The core's light beams less violently than before.

"I think it worked."

"You think?"

"Hey I am just here to defend the core from the digital copies of heartless that try to attack it."

"You still really wouldn't like to know why we look the same."

"That is not my mission, but I bet you will eventually figure it out."

"Can you tell me anything about your past?"

He sighs at me. He must really not like to talk about his past. I guess I will have to let it go for now.

"Let's just say that you should be really careful about what you are doing with the keyblade, and who you are getting involved with." That doesn't really explain much, but it is probably best to leave it at that.

"You should probably get going, the system doesn't like users internally accessing it." He opens a portal behind me.

"It was nice to meet you Roxas, and I hope we meet again sometime." I walk through the portal.

*Back in Merlin's House, Hallow Bastion*

I seem to have been placed back in the city, and outside of the computer. Everyone else is back also.

"I was wandering when you would be done recalibrating the system." Leon says to me.

"It was very confusing when I got to the program guarding the system, because he looked almost exactly like me, and he even used keyblades. He wouldn't tell me anything about him that would help me understand the resemblance."

"Well that's strange. I mean we have never seen him personally, because we usually do recalibrations remotely. It is far less dangerous that way." He stares at Cid.

"What? It was the fastest option. Besides he is a keyblade wielder, so I knew he could handle it. Sora handled it, didn't he?" Cid responses with confidence.

"Sora also wouldn't have broken it in the first place, but I suppose it doesn't matter now that it is done. We can all…" He is interrupted by an alarm on the computer terminal.

"Looks like we got a strong heartless on the outskirts of the city. Its power signature seems to be as big as Athenox's."

"Alright we need to stop it before it causes any damage. I only hope it doesn't do something stupid like charge in to a group of heartless and try to fight them head on." Leon says sarcastically to me.

"I will go with, you know just in case something like that were to happen twice." We all leave the building and I immediately detect it. It is a vessel mark, and it has a lot of dark power.

"What's wrong Athenox?"

"We need to hurry, this thing is much worse than me."

"Wait. You know what it is?"

"No not exactly, but I can detect its power all the way from here. It seems to be a very pure dark essence in its heart."

"If what you are saying is true, then I should be very concerned about why I haven't been able to find Cloud all day."

"You haven't? He helped me defeat a heartless that was guarding a repair piece earlier. He ran off and said he had to go take care of something and he seemed very worried about it."

"Then we need to move faster." We start running to the location where the computer detected the heartless. Leon must already have some idea about who or what the heartless is, and from what he said. It must somehow be related to Cloud. We reach the location to find Cloud passed out on the ground in front of a Man with silver hair and an angel wing wielding a very long curved blade. Based on where Cloud is positioned in relation to the man, it is very clear that he tried to fight him and was knocked out. He turns to us. I can feel the mark of power from his dark heart. It is very intense, probably about as powerful as Cloud's if not stronger.

"It is too late, Cloud is done for. I will soon take my heart back from him." The man says

"No you won't, besides that heart belongs to Cloud. Definitely not you." Tifa tells him

"Oh really, and what do you think you are going to be able to do to stop me?" The man replies back.

He does have a point though. He does seem very powerful. I definitely would not want to fight him head on. However, I do need his dark heart to power the vessel that will get my heart back. That reminds me that Maleficent said to use that other keyblade I have whenever I encounter a mark of the vessel.

"And who might you be?" He turns to me and says. He must notice the darkness in my heart as well.

"I bet you are one of Xehanort's puppets, judging from the darkness that lies within your heart." Who is Xehanort? I haven't heard that name. Whatever if I am going to play this right, then I have to get right to the point and stop trying to understand things. I take out the gold and silver keyblade and plant it on the ground in front of me. Everyone freezes in shock.

"How do you have that keyblade, Athenox?" Leon shouts at me.

"I do not think that how I got it is very important, but I do have it."

"Then I suppose that means…" The man's sentence trails off.

"No, that isn't possible. He, no they are back on Destiny Islands in their home world. We got a letter saying so. I can't believe you Athenox. Have you been lying to us this whole time?"

Leon and the others can't bear it. I ignore them, and focus on the man.

"I suppose I should feel honored to meet someone who could pull off that feat. I will help you with your mission whatever it is." He seems to respect me enough want to be my servant. All because maleficent gave me this incomplete keyblade. It must really mean something. I pull it from the ground and walk forward to the man.

"My mission is to gather hearts. If you wish to help me then start by aiding me in gathering theirs." I point over to Leon and the others.

"As you wish." He raises his sword.

"By the way what is your name?" I ask the man.

"Sephiroth." He starts to rush forward. While he is still in my range I take the Keyblade, dash in front of him, and jab it into his chest. I land in front of Leon and the others as he stands weakened. The Keyblade doesn't have the same power as mine, but it should start to drain him enough to give me a chance to destroy him.

"You traitor." Sephiroth shouts at me. He seems to be enraged.

"Traitor? Please. You are the one who trusted me to the point of letting your guard down, when you had only just met me. By the way. My mission is still to gather hearts, but the only heart that I require here is yours."

"Sorry Leon, I had to make it convincing or he wouldn't let me get close enough, without taking serious damage."

"Yeah I figured. From what I know about you it doesn't seem like you would be the type to just have other people fight for you." Leon tells me with confidence.

"If we finish keep him busy can you have the others take Cloud and get to safety?"

"I doubt he will let Cloud out of his sight, since he is after his heart."

"I guess you're right." I snap my fingers and summon Aegis and Caduceus to my side.

"You have heartless?"

"From Maleficent. Aegis. Caduceus. I need you guys to protect them while they get to safety." I point over at Leon's group. They nod and escort the group away from Sephiroth.

"Are you ready Leon?"

"Yes I am, Athenox." We both charge in directly towards Sephiroth. He counters both of us simultaneously with his blade. Even with the two of us, he isn't moved at all. I leap off of his blade into the air to try to maneuver around him, but he is as fast as he is strong he anticipates and sends me flying back with a bolt of dark energy. This doesn't even give Leon an opening. I recover my footing and run back towards him. If we can't overpower him with strength or speed, then we may have to try heart power. After all, the defense system said our heart power levels were similar. I use my chains to try and bind his hands and feet to the ground he doesn't seem to hinder him. He sends Leon flying back, and calls down a shower of fiery meteors around the whole area. It seems unnecessary, and it is impossible to dodge them. Sephiroth then pursues with a series of devastating strikes that so fast and hard-hitting that it is a miracle just to evade them. I need to end this fight fast or I am not going to get anywhere, and I will be destroyed. I have to channel enough of my hearts power to blast through his heart. I have to be just as hard hitting and unrelenting as he is. I dash across the ground to where Leon is, but Sephiroth is right behind me. I manage to strike hard enough with my blades to knock him back, but I won't get enough time to rush in and deliver the strike myself. I pick up Leon's sword, which from my duel with him earlier I can recall it being able to have a large striking distance. I could possibly use that to land a hit, or even better I could use it to channel an overwhelming amount of energy and then blast that energy at Sephiroth. The blade isn't as heavy as I expected it to be. I start to pour a large amount of my hearts energy into the blade, causing it to glow a dark red color. As soon as I feel the blade reaching its capacity of energy. I point the sword at Sephiroth as he quickly approaches, then I fire the blast in a beam, that send Sephiroth to the ground. I summon my keyblades as I approach him. He is unable to move as I jam the keyblade straight into his heart, making him evaporate into a cloud of shadow. His heart flies straight into Maleficent's fake keyblade. We head back to the town where everyone else is. Cloud and the others are okay.

"Thanks for helping me out back there." Leon says to me.

"No problem."

"If there is anything we can do for you then let me know."

"Actually." His sword is very well crafted, I wander if he will let me have it, or at least a part of it.

"Your sword."

"What?" He looks at me worried and confused.

"Can I see the chain on it?" I ask him. He throws it in the air and I catch it with my right hand. Look at it, both internally and externally to get its power structure. I focus on displacing it from my right hand to my left hand. After molding from the dark energy in my hands, the keychain appears in my hands. It looks similar to the one in my right hand. I attach it to my keyblade, which causes it to transform to look more like Leon's blade.

"How did you do that?" The whole group asks me as I throw him his original weapon chain back.

"Instinct I think."

"However you did it, it is really cool. Just don't go running around using my blade, it might confuse people."

"I won't…much." A dark portal opens behind me.

"I guess that means I am done with this world. It was nice meeting you guys, and I hope I get to see you all again." I say to the group as I walk through the portal.

"Bye!" They wave as I cross the portal.

*Dark rift between worlds.*

The rift between worlds seems quieter than when I first entered. From the distance I hear a caw. Diablo has found me.

"So, how was Hallow Bastion?" Diablo asks me.

"Full of heartless, almost died a lot."

"Oh good, that must mean that you have gathered a lot of heart power?"

"Yes I did, but why are there no heartless here?"

"When you captured the Dark heart, it stopped attracting heartless from the rift. It will only be like that in this area for a short time. The route to the next world will still be full of heartless."

"Ok, then let's go clear them out." We head on down the path that is covered in heartless, and I use some of the power I gathered to give to Diablo to clear the heartless out with. We arrive at the next portal. We stop since he is training me how to scout worlds out.

"Focus on the portal and tell me what you see or feel about it, that will usually tell you something about the world."

"Ok." I close my eyes and sense the portals presence.

"I see the world on the other side. It feels watery, like an ocean."

"You are good. It must be your ability to detect hearts."

"What do you mean? There would be too many hearts to in the world to scan to get that information."

"The worlds themselves do have hearts you know, so if you focus on them they will tell you more about that world."

"That is good to know. I should probably get going on the second heart." I walk through the portal.

*In Maleficent's tower, where Maleficent appears to be talking with an floating orb in the Dark coral blue chair*

"My, that was rather impressive work he did. And to think that that heartless had been useful in causing the other mighty keyblade wielder a great deal of grief. I hope something that reckless doesn't happen in my world, Maleficent."

"I can assure you that it will not, Ursula. However it would be a pity if something like that did happen." Maleficent makes an evil grin at Ursula's orb, and then proceeds to share in a sarcastic evil laugh.

"Just keep your part of the deal, and I assure you that my hero will do what needs to be done." Maleficent adds.

"Ok, I am trusting you." Ursula finishes her statement, and the orb vanishes. Maleficent laughs again, but this time the laugh is much more real.

*Athenox exits the other side of the portal outside the undersea kingdom of Atlantica.*

This is a really weird place. I am underwater and it is very colorful, but it isn't as weird as being in a computer so I think I will manage. Except for one minor detail, how am I breathing? I struggle around and start to sink to the ocean floor, when I hit my back on something cold and metallic. I look behind me to find a tank full of what I can only presume to be air until I trace the line to my face mask and realize that it is circulating dark energy through my lungs. It feels just like when I was in the storage container at Maleficent's tower. Well now that I know I am not going to die that easy, I should probably start looking around for any apparent heartless threats while I get used to moving underwater, and it might even help to gather more information on this place. You know like if it is there are any signs of life down here, which is really doubtful. I swim forward to find a swarm of fish that pass by, and they are going a lot faster than me. It will probably be helpful to figure out a faster method of swimming, especially if a group of heartless shows up. I have all of this extra dark energy on my back, I wonder. I focus on shifting the dark energy into my arms and legs, causing my speed to increase drastically. I accelerate straightforward into a group of heartless, and my tank seems to have run out of energy. I will surely drown. They swim around me preparing to attack. The mob starts to strike and I swing at them and destroy them when they get close. Without the dark energy from the tank I do not know how long I will be able to keep this up. I get light headed and pass out for a few seconds. When I regain my vision, the rest of the heartless are gone and two eels are circling around me. They stare at me and start to talk, they are speaking words in unison.

"So you are Maleficent's Keyblade wielder? Athenox, isn't it?"

"You know Maleficent?"

"Of course, she and I worked have worked together before."

"Worked together? Doing what?"

"That does not matter. What does matter is that you come see me immediately so I can inform you of what you are to do in this world. I can't risk anyone overhearing and interfering in my plan. Flotsam, Jetsam, bring him back to me now." I guess she is ordering the eels, because they wrap around my arms and immediately swim forward. As we move ahead, I notice that the eels have dark power emanating off of them but no power marks. We enter a dark undersea cave to find a large half women half octopus creature awaiting us. The eels let go of my arm and swim to her side.

"Ok so I am here, now what am I supposed to do?"

"In a rush are we? Why might that be?"

"I assume that Maleficent told you that I am searching for my heart." I tell her angrily. I know I just meant her and all but there is something about her that I do not like.

"A heart? What use is a heart to a dark creature like you?" She asks me

"It is truly none of your business, but I suppose if you really want to know. I need my memories back, and they are within my heart that is lost somewhere, more specifically someone."

"If you need memories, then I can give you those." She grabs a set of bottles off of carved out sections of the cave meant to serve as shelves.

"I don't need your memories, I need my memories."

"But if you don't remember then how can you be so sure that you really want them? Maybe there is some trace of your memory that remains, and you want that more? Perhaps a certain girl?" She is guessing this, right? There is absolutely no way she could know, because the only person who could have told her would be Maleficent, but I didn't tell her either. If what she is saying is true, then the weird recurring phrase that happens is something from my hearts memory. Save her.

"You know I could find that trace and build on it for you, for a cost though." She makes an evil smile.

"You could? What is the cost though?"

"Oh you don't really need to worry about that. It is nothing big really. Just your undying service to me, with your keyblades. And the chance to ever get your heart again of course."

"Forget it! If you do not have a real objective for me, then I am leaving. Or better yet since I need hearts for my mission I could reap them all from this world, including yours."

"Now there is no need to be so reckless and hasty, besides Maleficent told me how much you seem to care about people. And you wouldn't be fast enough to stop me from hurting her at this very moment, since you do seem to care about your master right?" She called my bluff and threatened me, she must have experience in manipulating. I do not know what she could do to Maleficent, but I have no intention to find out.

"Fine, then what do you want me to do?"

"That is the spirit. There is a kingdom not too far from here I want you to use your status as a keyblade wielder to earn their trust and gather enough information about a certain princess to get her guard down, then I want you to kidnap her and bring her back to me. Oh and just to make sure that you follow through with this mission." She snaps her fingers and the two eels charge at me radiating with dark energy. They wrap around my ankles and transform into two legbraces, they tighten and discharge lightning. It hurts but it isn't much compared to anything else, but I am left paralyzed for a few seconds after.

"Each time you stray from the plan, their grip will tighten and the lightning shock will become more sever. Until your body gives out and you die. At this rate I would guess you will only be able to resist death for a day, but that should be more than enough time for you given all I have heard about your fighting skill" She breaks into maniacal laughter.

"Then so be it, but if you do anything to my master. I will overcome any pain to see you destroyed." I leave her cave and the armbands emit a dark mist that forms a trail.

"Follow it" the witch's voice whispers to me from the eels. Along the way to the kingdom, a few minor heartless swarms show up. I can't risk these heartless interfering with the mission I have been forcefully given. I summon my keyblades and dispatch of them quickly before moving in on an underwater city just overhead. I get within 15 feet of the gate before I am stopped by guards. These guards are weird looking to say the least. Some sea creatures, some half fish, half human. They all have weapons pointed on me. As I am approached by the guards, swarms of heartless flood from behind me. This is bad. I can't let them harm these people, or blow my cover. I turn around summon my keyblades and charge at the heartless. They are eradicated before the guards can react.

"You should probably let me in before more are drawn in from all of these hearts pouring out of the gate." They all have stunned expressions on their faces. The gate opens and guards escort me into the city. I am guessing their stunned reactions are from my keyblades. It wasn't like in Hallow Bastion where they seemed to have experience with keyblade wielders before. This is more like they just saw something unbelievable, so they probably have never seen a keyblade wielder on a common basis. However they wouldn't have let me in if they were clueless to it, so there must be some past occurrence here. I am marched through the city by guards. We reach the front of a castle and then proceed to enter it. We reach a throne room and I am presented forward.

"Your majesty, we found this boy walking towards the gate. He stopped more of those strange dark creatures from getting into the city." A guard says to the person sitting in the throne who I would have to assume is the king of this kingdom."

"Hmm and how did he manage to do that?" He says as he orders a guard to pull the cloak off of my head. His face looks stunned he observes my face which must be familiar to him somehow.

"Sora? No, you don't exactly look like him but it is close. What weapons did he use to accomplish this feat?" Sora? Why does that name sound familiar? Oh Cid and Leon mentioned a Sora when I got back from the defense servers. He must be a well-known Keyblade wielder if people from different worlds have heard about him, or a complete idiot who couldn't keep a low profile. Although as of right now who am I to talk? However, I can use this to earn their trust if they are friends of this Sora character.

"I am a keyblade wielder just like Sora. We are good friends in fact, he sent me here because of the increased number of heartless in this world."

"So I assume Sora sent you to guard the princess to avoid something from happening like last time?" He asks me. Something must have happened while Sora was here that nearly put the princess's life in danger.

"Yes, more or less. He sent me here but he didn't quite tell me the full details, but I will help in anyway necessary."

"Even though I specifically remember telling that certain boy to avoid meddling in the affairs of other worlds, I suppose it can't be helped this time. Since you probably have the most expertise in dealing with these matters, I will let you protect my daughter and she will explain everything that has happened regarding the last two visits of the keyblade wielder. Ariel!" He calls out and a red haired girl who is half human and half sea creature swims out of a side door. I can immediately detect her hearts presence. It has a power mark. I could use it if I wanted to. I will see how things turn out before I make that decision. She seems excited to be called by her father. For some strange reason she is followed by a talking Crab, and Fish. I might want to avoid them because even without memories that doesn't seem natural.

"Yes, father?"

"The heartless situation has changed, and a keyblade wielder has been sent for your protection. He says that he is a friend of Sora"

"Oh really does that mean I get to leave the castle?"

"If he is alright with it." He looks at me.

"It should be fine, from my scouting on the way here I have concluded that they are only attacking in small groups for now and most of them are hiding in the shadows." I say back to him. Certainly if he knows this much, then he should know that more powerful hearts attract more heartless, and his daughters heart is very strong. Oh well he is going to have to learn the hard way. This will also speed up the rate in which I gather hearts from the heartless.

"Then I leave her in your good hands. And I should have asked you your name earlier."

"Oh, my name is…" I do not see any benefit in hiding my name form him, and not to mention the last time I tried that it angered the computer system.

"Athenox" I respond.

"Well Athenox, I certainly hope that my daughter Ariel is unharmed." Says the king.

"Oh and by the way…try to keep everyone inside the city for now. You don't want them to get attacked by heartless." I tell him this because he should be ready for a storm of heartless when I reach the gate with her. My keyblades draw enough attention, but her pure lighted heart is going to be a massive beacon to the heartless.

"Certainly."

We proceed out of the castle and towards the city gates. I can sense them piling up at the gate from here. I draw my keyblades and ready myself as we face the gates.

"They are already here?"

"When that gate opens get behind me, and do not move or they will start to focus on you." The gates open and I run at the overflow of heartless creatures. I keep charging energy through my keyblades in order to keep the creatures attention on me and away from Ariel. It isn't the easiest thing to do since they are dead set on her heart. A group strays off and dives for her, but I envelop them with my chains and pull them towards me and strike them all down. It is good that they aren't focused on me attacking them because they don't try and stop my attacks. On the other hand it is more stressful keeping them away from Ariel. There were a lot of heartless that gathered at this gate, at least 100 when I detected them, but for now they seem to have cleared out.

"They have cleared out for now so we can go, Ariel"

"Ok. If you don't mind there is a really important place we have to go to."

"Ok by all means lead the way, just do not get too far ahead." I clench my fists in pain as the eels shock and clench around my legs. It is definitely worse than the first time, but I am not paralyzed from it. I can't just take her now because that would be really obvious, and besides I need to know more about this other keyblade wielder.

"So Ariel, your dad is a king?"

"Yes he is."

"That has got to be fun, right?"

"No, not after a while."

"He must really care if he is assigning personal security to you."

"Yes he does, but more recently he has been keeping me in the castle because of all of the heartless. In fact if you didn't come along I don't think he would have let me out."

"No problem at all, I am glad I can help. Oh and the king said that you were going to tell me about what Sora did here? You know just for a better sense of what is going on." I clench my fist as another zap of lightning emits from the eels, and they clench even tighter. I need to figure out what happened. It might help me figure out what I have to do, or even give me more of my lost memories. A voice whispers in my head. "You are testing my patience boy!" It's Ursula. She must be using the eels connected very tightly around my legs.

"Sure thing." Ariel says to me. I kick my legs together at the eels as I follow Ariel.

"Well the first time Sora was here was the last time the heartless appeared in this world, and from what my father tells me the first time in a very long time. Sora came here with Donald and Goofy, and they were searching for people. They saved me and my father from the sea witch named Ursula. She is very dangerous. She convinced me to steal my father's crown and trident, and she used its power to endanger everyone. Luckily the group was able to stop her. She is also has control over the heartless in this world." So that is why the heartless just vanished when I overused this tank. She ordered them away. If Sora managed to stop her then why is she still here? Doesn't matter I guess. If she really is this big of a threat, then I will destroy her and use her heart. It is as simple as that. Right on que a painful clenching electric shock from my eel ankle shackles. Another whisper "Tick tock. My patience runs thin with your useless delays." This shock immobilizes me about 10 seconds. Long enough for a swarm of about 75 or so heartless to show up and take Ariel and her companions.

"Athenox! Help me!" She struggles to break free from the heartless. As soon as the paralysis wears off I dash after her at full speed. Knocking heartless out of my way. I clash into the heartless that are holding her knocking them off balance. They circle around us like prey. I won't be able to fight them off by myself, without leaving an opening for them to take Ariel and swim off. I can't risk that as an option. I snap my fingers and Caduceus and Aegis emerge ready to fight.

"More heartless!" Ariel screams.

"No these two are okay, they are mine."

"You have heartless?"

"It is a unique ability with a long story, I will explain when you are not in danger. Guys, we need to defeat these heartless without giving them an opportunity to take her. Do you understand?" They nod and the three of us stand around Ariel as they swarm starts to rush at us.

"We have to move as a group to avoid getting overwhelmed and creating an opening. Follow my lead." The first wave of them approach. I have to time this right or they will be able to take Ariel.

"Spin right now." I extend out my blades, Aegis raises his shield, and Caduceus charges up a blast of lightning that turns our rotation into a massive electrically charged swing that destroys the heartless instantly.

"Good job guys, but that was far from all of them." A group of heartless fire off a volley of shadowy water jets at us. Since we all can't move to dodge it, we will have to block it.

"Block the water jets." We rotate until Aegis and I are directly in front of the oncoming jet. With a magic shield spell from Caduceus, we manage to absorb the blast with only some minor knockback. The blast creates a group of stunned heartless, we can take advantage of this.

"Strike forward." We all prepare as I charge my blades with dark energy, and take the lead in our triangle shaped formation. Caduceus and Aegis amplify my blades energy, and I slam down with my blades creating a shockwave of dark energy and lightning tearing through the remaining heartless. We all catch our breaths.

"Ariel, which way do we need to go? I think we should keep ready to return to this formation in case more come, so I will take lead."

"Okay it is through those tunnels on the other side of the trench." She points down at the tunnels. We proceed along her guided route.

"So why do you have heartless following you around? Keyblade wielders don't usually have heartless friends, at least Sora didn't. You aren't a witch like Ursula are you?"

"A witch, no I don't do mean things to people like threaten them to do my evil bidding." Zap. It hurts more than any of the other times, but I can still move for some reason. I really do not know how much more I can take. "Watch your words more carefully, you wouldn't want her to get suspicious would you?" Ursula whispers. She must have taken that personally, which makes me very happy.

"I have no intention of hurting people that do not deserve it. Anyway, I got these two heartless from my master before I was sent on my journey to keep the worlds clear of wild heartless so that innocent hearts remain safe. I decided to call them Aegis and Caduceus. They have already saved me a few times now, and they definitely would not threaten people with the lives of people they care about and make them carry out their will of taking hearts. Zap. I do not know if the eels around my legs have a maximum output, but I think they just reached it. It feels like I was ran through with a bolt of lightning, but somehow I can still walk unhindered. The fact that I didn't collapse and die right there is pretty impressive. "You are really pushing your luck. Unfortunately you are no good to me dead. Bring her to me now!" I honestly do not want to. If I have any clue about what she wants from her, then I would have to guess it is her heart. I will not let someone like her get her hands on something that powerful. It would be far too dangerous to the world, and it would benefit Ursula which I am very opposed to. If I have to die from electrocution to save the princess, then so be it. We reach the entrance to the tunnels.

"It is here!" Ariel exclaims with joy. We swim in the tunnels until we get to a large bright room. She rushes in and swims around to naturally carved out spaces filled with an assortment of various bizarre objects.

"Oh this is my favorite place to be." She says as she gathers up items to show me.

"Are you from the same world as Sora?"

"No but we do encounter each other in our travels to gather information about the condition of other worlds."

"You guys go to a lot of other worlds right?"

"Uh yeah but…"

"Your world, what is it like?"

"Relatively normal for my personal experiences, so not as exciting to me."

"Well given your appearance I would think it is land based."

"Huh? Oh yeah I swim better with my legs, and I didn't realize how big of a problem it would have been to blend in since I assumed Sora had filled you in on the situation. Although I originally intended to clear out the heartless unnoticed, but that didn't turn out so well since there were so many gathered at the city gates. You seem to really want to leave this place?"

"Yes I want to explore other worlds and see what they are like."

"Why might that be, Ariel? You have to have some reason."

"Well it isn't really a straightforward reason…"

"Oh it is a very straightforward reason." Smoke envelopes the room and the eels shock me and release from my legs and wrap around Ariel. Ursula appears at the entrance of the room.

"She is in love with a prince, and so desperately wished to be with him. However she is a princess, so that will not be her fate." Ursula says as she walks up to the princess. I can't move. The eels must have paralyzed me before grabbing Ariel.

"Her heart and all its power will be mine, and I will use it to control the world."

"No…you…won't. I won't let you." I try to struggle and break free from the paralysis, but it isn't working.

"You are not going to stop me, because you will not want to see your poor master hurt. Assuming that you survive, I suggest you leave this world and move on, because you have caused enough problems." She walks up to me and rips the tank off of my back, and I start losing air immediately "Flotsam! Jetsam! Let's go now! We have to hurry." Ursula and the eels rush out of the room through the tunnels. I try to hold my breath but I am unsuccessful and blackout. If I can't breathe, then I will die. I can't die yet, but how am I going to breathe?

"You were not careful, were you?" A voice whispers in my head.

"You had the chance to accomplish your goal, and yet you didn't. Why?"

"Because the princess doesn't deserve to lose her heart because of me."

"Okay but you have failed, and now she will lose her heart anyway."

"Yeah that is right. I can't give up though. I need my heart back. I need to save her."

"Then open your heart further to the darkness within you, and then you can overcome the obstacle in your path." I regain my consciousness and a bubble of shadow has formed around me. Somehow I can still breathe even after it dissipates. Why though? Is it because of what that voice said to me? I almost forgot that I do not have time to waste I have to go get Ariel, but the King does need to know what happened. Caduceus and Aegis can help me. I snap my fingers and they appear.

"Hey guys! I need you to go tell the king what happened. Here." I grab a piece of paper and write it out quickly with dark energy. I take out my mock keyblade and hand it to them.

"Take this with so they know that you're with me. And once you get done come back to me with that keyblade so we can take down Ursula." They take the note and keyblade and head off for the kingdom. I can still pick up traces of Ariel's Hearts presence, so I will follow it. It is moving in the opposite direction of the kingdom. I proceed to rush after it into a deeper darker part of the ocean. Heartless appear from the shadows of the Ocean. It looks like Ursula put them there to get in my way. They are layers deep and far greater in numbers than the heartless we fought as a group earlier, but I have the advantage here since in this current segment of the battle I don't have to protect anyone. With keyblades in hand I charge into the army and start cleaving the seemingly unending amount of heartless in an attempt to clear a path. The front of this massive formation goes down quickly, but as I proceed further in they seems to be getting tougher and tougher. I am going to need a way through this, because brute force is not making much progress. My magic isn't strong enough to clear through all of these heartless, or maybe it is? If it can power both my underwater breathing and my strikes, then I should be able to have enough power to cast energy attacks instead of striking. It should work similar to how I charged a blast with Leon's Sword, except faster. I will have keep moving and not let up or slow down, because I will drown in the sea of heartless otherwise. I charge up my blades until a massive quantity of energy has collected within them. I swim straight forward and fire the energy forward in a continuous blast through the wall of heartless it is exhausting to break through and I can feel the magic energy I stored up in the blade run out just as I clear through to the other side of the wall. The heartless fill in the hole from where I had just cleared it. I guess I won't be able to go back until I defeat Ursula. I can still feel Ariel's presence moving forward. A heartless with a lot of power is incoming. I guess Ursula really wasn't taking any chances. The heartless approaches fast. It looks like a massive dark gray shark. I swim out of the way to avoid getting head-butted into the wall of heartless. Unfortunately the heartless isn't dumb enough, and turns out of the full force charge to pursue me once more.


End file.
